The Storm
by Elbereth04
Summary: A F.A.C.E. fic about what happens when a thunderstorm wakes up the household.


The crack of thunder broke through the household waking the resident on the couch with a start and the blonde looked around to the familiar surroundings of his living room in confusion. Why was he on the couch? And then the fight he had had with Francis earlier came rushing back to him; they had been bantering like usual but he had gone too far when he had made a crack about Francis' terrible parenting skills. Francis had almost never taken any offense to the things that came out of Arthur's mouth but he would not stand for Arthur insulting him as a father; he was a damn good one. Arthur had realized immediately after he had said it by the look on his love's face that he had gone too far and he had immediately started to apologize. The French nation had almost instantly forgiven the apology, because it had indeed been sincere and it was obvious that Arthur knew he had crossed a line, but to ensure that Arthur would think before he spoke next time, he had been banished to the couch for the evening. Arthur had accepted his punishment with all the grace of English royalty which is how he came to be alone on the couch in a thunderstorm.

Another clap of thunder, louder than the first, rattled the windows and Arthur put a pillow over his head to drown out the sound. He had always hated the sound of thunder ever since World War II; the sound had always reminded him of the relentless bombing of the Luftwaffe during the London Blitz.

Before the wedding, and before they had adopted little Matthew and Alfred, he used to have constant nightmares of the bombing of London so much so that he would wake in the morning and his shirt would be plastered to his chest from the amount of sweat that he would produce during these nightmares. He had found that the only thing that seemed to stop these nightmares would be when Francis had spent the night next to him. He hadn't had any nightmares since they had been married, but the sound of thunder still unnerved him to the point where every time there was a particularly bad storm Francis would hold him close and tease him about being worse than the kids.

The wind outside kicked up a notch and a particularly bright burst of lightening filled the room and Arthur held the pillow tighter over his head in anticipation of the thunder that would follow. The clap of thunder came and though it wasn't any louder than the ones before it still made Arthur cringe. Suddenly the frightened Brit felt the pillow being pulled from his head and familiar fingers running through his dishelved hair reassuringly.

"Come on up to bed, cher, I think you've been punished enough." Francis held out his hand for Arthur to take and wrapped his arms around his British lover when he stood up with a grateful expression on his face.

"Thank you" Arthur whispered lovingly in the man's ear, squeezing him tight in return and following him to the bedroom.

"You know," the British nation started when they had gotten under the covers and he was secure in the Frenchman's arms "I didn't get the chance to apologize to you properly yet, will you let me make it up to you?" he asked in between kissing his way from the man's collarbone up to his neck.

Francis grinned in anticipation laying back and enjoying the treatment "I suppose I can allow it, just this once…"

Grinning and climbing on top of his lover Arthur kissed him long and full on the lips, completely ignoring the storm outside.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this eager to apologize" Francis teased running his hands up the inside of Arthurs t shirt preparing to remove it…. Or at least he would have if he hadn't been distracted by the distinct sound of a little voice at the doorway "Ewww you guys are gross! Daddy, get off of dad and let us in, Mattie is scared of the storm."

Francis dumped Arthur onto his side of the bed earning him a frown "Thanks a lot, you arse"

Francis snorted "And I'm the bad parent, at least I can control my mouth in front of the children." Ignoring the sour look he was getting from the left side of the bed he opened his arms in invitation for the children to crawl into bed with them.

Alfred practically leaped into the middle of the bed while Matthew filed in slowly with his bear in his arms.

"Alfred…" Arthur started to scold "Did you wake your brother up just so that you could come in here?"

The young blonde with red white and blue pajamas crossed his arms and shook his head back and forth "No way! Mattie was really really scared of the storm and so I, great brother that I am, brought him in here to you guys."

"Well," Arthur started with a knowing glint in his eye "If you're only here for Matthew's sake then you can go on back to bed, we've got him now."

Almost as if on cue a loud crack of thunder shook the house and Alfred dove into Arthurs lap earning a soft laugh from the Brit who wrapped his arms around the small frame protectively.

Looking over to Francis he noticed that Matthew was already fast asleep cuddled up sweetly in his papa's arms.

"Well, maybe, I'll stay here just to protect you and dad. Dad told me once that you don't like storms either so maybe that where I…I mean Mattie… got it from."

Arthur shot a glare at his husband who was ever so gracefully conveniently faking sleep at that very moment and moved Alfred from his lap to the space next to him. Kissing the small boys head in reassurance he ruffled his hair "Alfred, you've done a fine job of protecting your brother, do you think that you can manage to protect your father and I as well?"

The tiny hero grinned "Of course I can! I am a hero after all!"

The Brit took a moment to survey the three people he loved most in the world and noticed for the first time that he hadn't even heard the storm that was raging on outside since he had gotten in the bed and thought to himself that as long as he had these three beautiful blondes by his side he might not ever hear another storm again.

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A/N: Not my best work by a long shot but I couldn't get this out of my head so I hope you all enjoyed some F.A.C.E.


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